Wheel covers for vehicles such as automobiles and trucks have generally been restricted to plastic and metal type hubcaps having bendable insertable edges for covering and protecting wheel hubs. See for example: U.S. Patents Des. 170,114 to Dieterich; Des. 370,198 to Starr, Sr. et al.; 2,124,789 to Lyon; 2,279,704 to Davenport; and 5,457,886 to Fuller. While these patents show some decorative exteriors, all of the exterior shapes and forms require engraving onto the metal hubcap itself so that the hubcap becomes a permanent fixture on the vehicle's wheels, and do not allow for having removable openings for allowing raised members such as valve stems and raised wheel portions to pass therethrough.
Other types of hub caps and trim covers have also been used over the years, and have included an opening for valve stems. See for example, U.S. Pat. No. 1,406,945 to Dunlap et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 1,446,561 to Harris; U.S. Pat. No. 3,397,918 to Aske, Jr. et al; and U.S. Pat. No. 4,344,654 to Apezynski. However, each of these devices is restricted to having a single fixed opening location for the valve stem and do not allow for passing different sized valve stems at different locations therethrough, nor for allowing for other raised wheel protrusions such as a raised hub member to pass therethrough.
Some types of external removable covers have been proposed for vehicle wheels. See for example: U.S. Pat. No. 4,792,191 to Farmer and U.S. Pat. No. 4,955,670 to Koller. However, both of these patents are temporarily shields that are primarily used when the vehicle is stationary and allow the tires and cars to be cleaned and detailed. The Farmer '191 patent has a some small holes about a central portion of their cover but they are only used as finger holes for physically holding the cover, and not for allowing fixed protrusions such as valve stems or other raised wheel members to be able to protrude therethrough. Likewise, Koller has a central through-hole that is only used for holding the cover, and not for allowing fixed protrusions such as valve stems or other raised wheel members to protrude therethrough. Furthermore, these devices cannot be used when the vehicle is in motion.
Other types of removable covers have been proposed as decorative wheel covers. See for example: U.S. Pat. No. 2,548,070 to Ryan and U.S. Pat. No. 5,316,376 to Defreitas. However, none of these references allow for openings that would allow raised wheel protrusions such as valve stems and raised wheel members to pass therethrough.
The above devices referenced in the patents could also be dangerous in some wheel applications where internal wheel components such as brakes on many large vehicles such as buses, and trucks need to have air flow about the wheels in order to constantly air cooled. The above devices described in the patents by covering up most of the outside surface of the wheel hub areas inside of the tires could result in overheating components such as brakes in some types of vehicles.
None of the prior art patents has portions of the wheel cover that can be removed as desired for allowing various raised portions of the wheel such as different sized valve stems, raised wheel hub type members, and the like, to be able to pass therethrough. Also, none of the prior art addresses the problems of restricting the air flow to wheel brakes, by allowing the user to selectively punch out portions of the wheel cover as needed.